EU to impose new sanctions on Russian oil and banks

The European Union has agreed to impose a new round of sanctions against Russia, targeting the country’s energy and financial sectors in a bid to tighten the screws on the Kremlin’s war machine and force a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine, Euronews writes.

The sanctions, endorsed on Friday by ambassadors in Brussels, ban all transactions with 22 Russian banks, the Russian Direct Investment Fund and its subsidiaries, and the direct and indirect use of the underwater Nord Stream pipelines.

Additionally, the EU transforms the price cap on Russian crude oil, fixed at $60 per barrel since December 2022, into a dynamic mechanism that will remain 15% lower than the average market price, according to diplomatic sources.

The new cap will kick in at $47.6 per barrel and be automatically adjusted every six months, with the possibility of ad-hoc tweaks if the market fluctuations require.